Payment card referral program

ABSTRACT

A method for enhancing value of a credit card may include providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider. A set of applications may be received from a set of referrals of the authorized user for credit card services. The set of applications from the set of referrals may be processed. A credit card may be issued to each of the referrals that qualify for the credit card, where the referrals issued credit cards define a set of customers. Valuable consideration may be issued to the authorized user, where the valuable consideration may be based on the number of customers in the set of customers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/809,015 filed Mar. 25, 2004, which is a Continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/263,321, filed Oct. 2, 2002 now issued asU.S. Pat. No. 6,739,506, the contents of which are herein incorporatedby reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to credit cards or bank cards and the like and,more particularly, to methods for enhancing the value of a credit card,both to a holder or user of the card and to the bank or other issuer ofthe card.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Credit cards, which are devices most commonly represented by a plasticcard-like member through the use of which an authorized user pays for,by way of example, services and/or merchandise and the like, have becomeso universally well known and ubiquitous as to have fundamentallychanged the very manner in which financial transactions and dealings areviewed and conducted in society today. Such credit cards are generallyissued by a bank and provide a mechanism by which a user purchases goodswithout an immediate, direct exchange of cash and thereby incurs debtwhich the user may thereafter (i.e. upon receipt of a monthly orotherwise periodic statement) either pay the outstanding balance or, asa matter of choice, defer the balance for later payment withaccompanying interest or finance charges for the period during whichpayment of the debt is deferred.

Increasingly, credit cards are being issued by banks and the like inassociation with another organization such, for example, as commercialenterprises which themselves offer or sell goods and/or services. Thisphenomenon, known as co-branding, provides a credit card that typicallycarries the name of a commercial company, with the commercial company orco-branding “partner” bringing to the card holder or user added benefitswhich, not incidentally, assist the partner in the sale of its goods orservices to the card user. Well known and successful examples of suchco-branded cards include the General Motors MasterCard creditcard—offering users up to a five-percent rebate on user-purchasedGeneral Motors automobiles, based on the volume of charges placed on theuser's card—and airline-partnered credit cards which award the card userfrequent flyer mileage on the basis of user-accrued card charges.

Current cobranded credit cards, although successful, may neverthelesslack additional actual or perceived advantages, to the user and/or tothe issuer and/or commercial partner, which may perhaps otherwise beavailable or attainable. For example, the rapid proliferation ofco-branded cards offering seemingly ever-increasing amounts or levels ofuser-earned “benefits” encourages individual users or subscribers toobtain multiple credit cards, by which users often correspondingly splitor divide their purchases and transactions—previously charged on asingle card—between a number of cards, thereby decreasing thetransaction volume of each card at the expense of one or more others.Moreover, permitting users to earn awards based on purchases encouragesusers to incur increasing amounts of debt, at times exceeding the amountthat a user is reasonably capable of repaying in a timely manner,increasing the possibility of user default with consequent damage to thebank, to the commercial partner, and/or to the organization whose goodsor services were charged in the user's transactions with the card.

Accordingly, it is the principle of the invention to provide methods forenhancing the value of a substantially conventional credit card so as toenhance a user's or potential user's perception of the desirability ofholding or subscribing to the card and encourage increased use of thecard for its normal utility as a payment device, all without thedisadvantages of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above problems and others are at least partially solved and theabove purposes and others realized in a method that includes providingan authorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider, theauthorized user referring a customer to the service provider for creditcard services, the customer submitting an application for credit cardservices to the service provider, the service provider receiving andprocessing and approving the application and issuing a credit card tothe customer establishing a referred authorized user of a credit card,and in consideration therefore to the authorized user issuing valuableconsideration to the authorized user. The step of the customersubmitting an application for credit card services to the serviceprovider further includes the customer designating the authorized useras a referring party, such as by name, social security number, by alettered and/or numbered code or password, or the like, provided to theauthorized user by the service provider. In a preferred embodiment thevaluable consideration is a monetary payment. In another embodiment, thevaluable consideration is as gift such as one or more gift certificatesfor products and/or services, one or more free products and/or services,etc., whether provided by the service provider or other participatingvendor such as a restaurant, retail concern, etc.

The invention further provides the authorized user incurring debt on thecredit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by theauthorized user on the credit card, the method further includes theservice provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of theauthorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of thesweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of theentries. The referred authorized user can participate in the foregoingmethod by referring a customer to the service provider for credit cardservices, and so on and so forth. Although it is preferred that theservice provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can beconducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as withan independent lottery/sweepstakes.

The referred authorized user, who will now be referred to as a firstreferred authorized user, can participate in the instant method.Consistent with the foregoing, the invention further provides the firstreferred authorized user referring a second customer to the serviceprovider for credit card services, the second customer submitting anapplication for credit card services to the service provider, theservice provider receiving and processing and approving the applicationand issuing a credit card to the second customer establishing a secondreferred authorized user of a credit card, and in considerationtherefore to the first referred authorized user the service providerissuing valuable consideration to the first referred authorized user.The step of the second customer submitting an application for creditcard services to the service provider further includes the secondcustomer designating the first referred authorized user as a referringparty, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/ornumbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized userby the service provider. The invention further provides the secondreferred authorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For apredetermined amount of debt incurred by the second referred authorizeduser on the credit card, the method further includes the serviceprovider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the secondreferred authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of thesweepstakes, wherein the entry of the second referred authorized user isone of the entries. Although it is preferred that the service providerconduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/orprovided by one or more other parties, such as with an independentlottery/sweepstakes.

Another method embodiment includes providing an authorized user of acredit card issued by a service provider, the authorized user referringcustomers to the service provider for credit card services, thecustomers submitting applications for credit card services to theservice provider, the service provider receiving and processing andapproving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customersestablishing referred authorized users of credit cards, and inconsideration therefore to the authorized user issuing valuableconsideration to the authorized user. The customers submittingapplications for credit card services to the service provider furtherincludes the customers designating the authorized user as a referringparty, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/ornumbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized userby the service provider. The valuable consideration is a monetarypayment. In another embodiment, the valuable consideration is as giftsuch as one or more gift certificates for products and/or services, oneor more free products and/or services, etc., whether provided by theservice provider or other participating vendor such as a restaurant,retail concern, etc. The immediate embodiment further provides theauthorized user incurring debt on the credit card. For a predeterminedamount of debt incurred by the authorized user on the credit card, themethod further includes the service provider submitting an entry into asweepstakes on behalf of the authorized user, and conducting a drawingfrom entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorizeduser is one of the entries. The referred authorized users canparticipate in the foregoing method by referring customers to theservice provider for credit card services as explained above, and so onand so forth. In accordance with this embodiment, it will be understoodthat although it is preferred that the service provider conduct and/orprovide the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided by oneor more other parties, such as with an independent lottery/sweepstakes.

Yet another method embodiment includes providing an authorized user of acredit card issued by a service provider, the authorized user referringcustomers to the service provider for credit card services, thecustomers submitting applications for credit card services to theservice provider, the service provider receiving and processing andapproving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customersestablishing referred authorized users of credit cards, and inconsideration therefore to the authorized user, issuing valuableconsideration to the authorized user for every predetermined number ofreferred authorized users of credit cards. The customers submittingapplications for credit card services to the service provider furtherincludes the customers designating the authorized user as a referringparty, such as by name, social security number, by a lettered and/ornumbered code or password, or the like, provided to the authorized userby the service provider. The valuable consideration is a monetarypayment. In another embodiment, the valuable consideration is as giftsuch as one or more gift certificates for products and/or services, oneor more free products and/or services, etc., whether provided by theservice provider or other participating vendor such as a restaurant,retail concern, etc. The invention further provides the authorized userincurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debtincurred by the authorized user on the credit card, the method furtherincludes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes onbehalf of the authorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries ofthe sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of theentries. The referred authorized users can participate in the foregoingmethod by referring customers to the service provider for credit cardservices, and so on and so forth. In accordance with the immediateembodiment, it is to be understood that although it is preferred thatthe service provider conduct and/or provide the sweepstakes, it can beconducted by and/or provided by one or more other parties, such as withan independent lottery/sweepstakes.

A method for enhancing value of a credit card may include providing anauthorized user of a credit card issued by a service provider. A set ofapplications may be received from a set of referrals of the authorizeduser for credit card services. The set of applications from the set ofreferrals may be processed. A credit card may be issued to each of thereferrals that qualify for the credit card, where the referrals issuedcredit cards define a set of customers. Valuable consideration may beissued to the authorized user, where the valuable consideration may bebased on the number of customers in the set of customers.

Consistent with the foregoing summary of various embodiments of theinvention and the teachings set forth in the ensuing detaileddescription of preferred embodiments, which are taken together, theinvention also contemplates associated method embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention concerns methods for enhancing the value of asubstantially conventional credit card or bank card so as to enhance anauthorized user's or potential user's perception of the desirability ofholding or subscribing to the card and encourage increased use of thecard for its normal utility as a payment device through which the userincurs debt. The invention allows authorized credit card users to earnincome by referring customers to a credit card service provider and byparticipating in lottery/sweepstakes events by incurring specified debt.As used herein, the term “debt” is intended to collectively encompassall monetary obligations incurred by an authorized user of the card andall monies owed to the credit card service provider or issuer of thecard for any and all forms of credit presently or hereinafter extendibleto the user of or subscriber to the card's services such, by way ofnonexclusive example, as for services and merchandise purchases, cashadvances or loans, subscription fees, and applied finance charges andthe like. Similarly, the term finance charges should be understood asincluding, again by way of non-limiting example, late fees, interestcharges, bank fees and all other charges and assessments added to thosedebts directly incurred by a user through transactions such as purchasesand cash advances and the like, such finance charges most commonlyresulting from the user's decision to extend an outstanding balance dueas of a particular billing period closing date. Furthermore, any generalor special purpose credit or bank card or similar or equivalentinstrument or mechanism including a pre-paid credit or bank card,whether or not represented or implemented in the form of a physical cardor member or the like, through or in accordance with which an authorizeduser executes a transaction (and thereby incurs debts) with anobligation to repay to the card or instrument issuer or sponsor isintended to be subsumed, for purposes of this disclosure, under the termcredit card as used herein.

As used herein, the term “authorized user” is a person named on or to acredit card for which he or she will be periodically billed. Because acorporation and other legally established entities are often referred toas legal persons or entities, such organizations are intended to beincluded with the scope of “authorized user.” As used herein, the terms“credit card service provider” and “service provider” areinterchangeable for the purpose of this disclosure and intended toinclude a financial institution or bank including one or more or any andall participants of the invention including one or more or any and allpartners thereof, subsidiaries thereof, agents thereof, intermediatesthereof, corporations thereof, legal entities thereof, benefactorsthereof, investors thereof, third parties thereof, etc. In sum, anyparty participating in or otherwise facilitating the implementation ofthe invention as or on behalf or in conjunction and/or cooperation withthe credit card service provider or service provider is intended to besubsumed, for the purpose of this disclosure, under each of the terms“credit card service provider” and “service provider”.

In accordance with the principle of the invention, a preferred methodincludes providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by anissuer, namely, a service provider as herein defined. The serviceprovider and the authorized user are participating members of themethod, such as by a contractual agreement for credit card services,which is provided and offered by the service provider as a means toenhance the value of a credit card to enhance the authorized user'sperception of the desirability of holding or subscribing to the creditcard and to encourage increased use of the credit card for its normalutility as a payment device through which the authorized user incursdebt. In accordance with the principle of the invention, the authorizeduser refers a customer to the service provider for credit card services,in which the customer submits an application for credit card services,i.e., a credit application, to the service provider as a result of thereferral. In one scenario, the service provider provides the authorizeduser with credit applications for the authorized user to provide toreferred customers. In another scenario, the referred customer contactsthe service provider at the instruction of the authorized user, whetherin person, by phone, by letter or written correspondence, by way ofemail, etc., requesting a credit application, which, in due course, isthen furnished to the referred customer by the service provider. Thecredit application can be a hard copy, if desired. The creditapplication can also be electronic, in which it is filled out andsubmitted, as a matter of example, online, such as through the serviceprovider's web site. Any form of credit application process can be usedin accordance with the ordinary and readily available credit cardapplication systems and methods currently in use by most large serviceproviders. The credit application is a typical one requesting personaland financial information and authorization of the service provider toperform a credit check, in which information provided about the customerby the credit application is used by the underwriters of the serviceprovider to determine whether to grant a credit card and if so at whatcredit limit amount and percentage interest rate.

The service provider receives and processes/underwrites and, inaccordance with the method, approves the credit application, and issuesa credit card to the referred customer establishing the referredcustomer as a referred authorized user of a credit card. In granting thereferred authorized user credit card services, the service provider mayrequire the payment of a nominal initial fee, i.e., a start-up orinitiation fee. In consideration to the authorized user, which can nowbe considered a referring authorized user, for making a customerreferral resulting in the service provider establishing a new referredauthorized user of a credit card, in accordance with the principle ofthe invention, the service provider issues valuable consideration to thereferring authorized user.

Preferably, the step of the customer submitting an application forcredit card services to the service provider further includes thecustomer designating in the credit application the authorized user as areferring party or as the referring authorized user. The referring partycan be designated by name, social security number, by an account numberassigned to the authorized user by the service provider, by a letteredand/or numbered code assigned to the authorized user by the serviceprovider, etc. Credit applications or brochures or marketing cards orother materials can be provided to the referring authorized userpre-printed with the information necessary for permitting referredcustomers to designated the authorized user as the referring party. Forreferring authorized users that own or operate a web site, the referringauthorized user can use the website as a means of advertising the creditcard services of the service provider and the designated referral codeor other designation to use, and even a live link to the serviceprovider's web site and this aspect is highly desirable. As a matter ofexample, the service provider can provide the referring authorized userwith a banner add or other electronic add form encoded with or otherwisehaving the designated referral code or other designation for thereferring authorized user. Users accessing the referring authorizeduser's web site and who subsequently use the designated code as areferral code for credit card services are considered referred customersin accordance with this disclosure. It is within the scope of theinvention that the referring authorized user can use anysuitable/desired/appropriate manner of marketing the credit cardservices of the service provider, including on the authorized user's website.

In one embodiment, the valuable consideration is a monetary payment paidto the referring authorized user by the service provider by way of anysuitable payment method, such as by check, wire transfer, etc. Themonetary payment can also be delivered as a credit on the credit cardaccount of the referring authorized user or a reduction of debt on thecredit card account. In another embodiment, the valuable considerationis a gift such as a gift basket, jewelry, housewares, one or more giftcertificates for one or more products and/or services, etc., whetherprovided by the service provider or by a participating party, vendor,restaurant, retail concern, etc., one or more free products and/orservices whether provided by the service provider or other participatingparty, vendor, restaurant, retail concern, etc. A gift can be deliveredto the referring authorized user by or at the behest of the serviceprovider by way of any conventional shipping method. The serviceprovider may require the referring authorized user to pick up the giftat a designated location. Any desired valuable consideration can beprovided.

In accordance with the principle of the invention, the valuableconsideration is preferably a monetary payment, which can be the samefor each customer referred to the service provider by the referringauthorized user or different, whether higher or lower as specified bythe service provider. As a matter of example, the valuable considerationcan be $100 for the first referred authorized user established from acustomer referral made by the referring authorized user, $200 for thenext referred authorized user established from a customer referral madeby the referring authorized user, $300 for still the next referredauthorized user established from a customer referral made by thereferring authorized user, and so on and so forth. Other monetaryamounts can be used and in varying increasing or decreasing increments.

The invention further provides the authorized user incurring debt on thecredit card, which incurred debt and all account activity of theauthorized user's credit card account is managed in accordance withwell-established and well-known accounting techniques prosecuted by theservice provider or other participating party, partner, accounting firm,etc. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the authorized useron the credit card, such as $20, $40, $60, $80, $100, $200, $500,$1,000, etc., or other selected and predetermined amount of incurreddebt, the method further includes the service provider submitting anentry into a sweepstakes on behalf of the authorized user, andsubsequently conducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes,wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of the entries. Althoughit is preferred that the service provider conduct and/or provide andotherwise implement the sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/orprovided or otherwise implemented by one or more other parties, such aswith an independent lottery/sweepstakes. An example of this is theservice provider entering the authorized user into a POWERBALLsweepstakes or the like. The sweepstakes is conventional in nature andis a contest in which a prize, such as a car, a boat, a motorcycle, ahouse, a monetary prize, etc., is awarded to a winner of a randomdrawing, which winner can possibly by the authorized user. Delivery ofprizes to a designated winner of the sweepstakes is made in aconventional manner in accordance with conventional sweepstakespractice.

The referred authorized user can participate in the foregoing method byreferring a customer to the service provider for credit card services,and so on and so forth. An example of this is the referred authorizeduser, who will now be referred to as a first referred authorized user,referring a second customer to the service provider for credit cardservices, the second customer submitting an application for credit cardservices to the service provider, the service provider receiving andprocessing and approving the application and issuing a credit card tothe second customer establishing a second referred authorized user of acredit card, and in consideration therefore to the first referredauthorized user the service provider issuing valuable consideration tothe first referred authorized user. The step of the second customersubmitting an application for credit card services to the serviceprovider further includes the second customer designating the firstreferred authorized user as a referring party, as previously explained.The invention further provides the second referred authorized userincurring debt on the credit card. For a predetermined amount of debtincurred by the second referred authorized user on the credit card, themethod further includes the service provider submitting an entry into asweepstakes on behalf of the second referred authorized user, andconducting a drawing from entries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entryof the second referred authorized user is one of the entries.

It will be understood that the invention cannot be facilitated if theservice provider rejects a credit application of a customer referred bya referring authorized user and refuses to issue a credit card to thereferred customer. The exception to this is if the credit card ispre-paid by the referred customer. Accordingly, the use of pre-paidcredit cards is intended to be within the scope of the invention, andthis aspect was intimated supra.

Consistent with the foregoing teachings, the invention contemplatesassociated embodiments. And so in another aspect of the invention, amethod includes providing an authorized user of a credit card issued bya service provider as explained supra, the authorized user referring aplurality of customers to the service provider for credit card services,the customers submitting applications for credit card services to theservice provider, the service provider receiving and processing andapproving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customersestablishing a plurality of referred authorized users of credit cards,and in consideration therefore to the authorized user, the serviceprovider issuing valuable consideration to the authorized user. Therequired plurality of referred authorized users needed to be establishedfrom customer referrals in order for the service provider to issuevaluable consideration to the referring authorized user can be anynumber such as two, five, ten, twenty, etc. The customers submittingapplications for credit card services to the service provider furtherincludes the customers designating the authorized user as a referringparty or referring authorized user, as previously explained. Thevaluable consideration is a monetary payment. In another embodiment, thevaluable consideration is as gift as previously explained. The inventionfurther provides the referring authorized user incurring debt on thecredit card. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by thereferring authorized user on the credit card, the method furtherincludes the service provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes onbehalf of the referring authorized user, and conducting a drawing fromentries of the sweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user isone of the entries. As previously explained, although it is preferredthat the service provider conduct and/or provide and otherwise implementthe sweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided or otherwiseimplemented by one or more other parties, such as with an independentlottery/sweepstakes. The referred authorized users of this embodimentcan participate in the foregoing method by referring customers to theservice provider for credit card services as explained above, and so onand so forth.

In yet another aspect, the invention includes providing an authorizeduser of a credit card issued by a service provider, the authorized userreferring customers to the service provider for credit card services,the customers submitting applications for credit card services to theservice provider, the service provider receiving and processing andapproving the applications and issuing credit cards to the customersestablishing referred authorized users of credit cards, and inconsideration therefore to the authorized user, the service providerissuing valuable consideration to the authorized user for everypredetermined number of or set of referred authorized users of creditcards. The customers submitting applications for credit card services tothe service provider further includes the customers designating theauthorized user as a referring party or referring authorized user, aspreviously explained. The required number of for each set of referredauthorized users needed to be established from customer referrals inorder for the service provider to issue valuable consideration to thereferring authorized user can be any number such as ten, twenty, thirty,etc. As a matter of example, the service provider issues valuableconsideration to the referring authorized user for every ten referredauthorized users resulting from customer referrals made by the referringauthorized user, and so on and so forth. It can be some other number ofestablished referred authorized users or varying numbers as may bedesired, and the value of the valuable consideration issued to thereferring authorized user for every predetermined set of referredauthorized users resulting from customer referrals made by the referringauthorized user can decrease or increase.

In accordance with the immediate embodiment, the valuable considerationis a monetary payment. In another embodiment, the valuable considerationis a gift as previously explained. It is preferred that the valuableconsideration be a monetary payment. As a matter of example, thevaluable consideration can be $100 for every ten referred authorizedusers established from customer referrals made by the referringauthorized user, $200 for the next ten referred authorized usersestablished from customer referrals made by the referring authorizeduser, $300 for still the ten next referred authorized users establishedfrom customer referrals made by the referring authorized user, and so onand so forth. Other monetary amounts can be used and in varyingincreasing or decreasing increments.

In accordance with the immediate embodiment, the invention furtherprovides the referring authorized user incurring debt on the creditcard. For a predetermined amount of debt incurred by the referringauthorized user on the credit card, the method further includes theservice provider submitting an entry into a sweepstakes on behalf of theauthorized user, and conducting a drawing from entries of thesweepstakes, wherein the entry of the authorized user is one of theentries. As previously explained, although it is preferred that theservice provider conduct and/or provide and otherwise implement thesweepstakes, it can be conducted by and/or provided or otherwiseimplemented by one or more other parties, such as with an independentlottery/sweepstakes. The referred authorized users of this embodimentcan participate in the foregoing method by referring customers to theservice provider for credit card services as explained above, and so onand so forth.

The present invention allows referring authorized users to earn incomeor to receive gifts or other valuable consideration from a serviceprovider for referring customers to a service provider, and is describedabove with reference to preferred embodiments, and to participate insweepstakes/lotteries by incurring debt on their credit cards. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may bemade in the described embodiments without departing from the nature andscope of the present invention. For instance, although monetary amountsdiscussed in this specification are expressed in dollars, any legalcurrency can be used.

Various changes and modifications to the embodiments herein chosen forpurposes of illustration will readily occur to those skilled in the art.To the extent that such modifications and variations do not depart fromthe spirit of the invention, they are intended to be included within thescope thereof.

1. A method for enhancing value of a credit card, said methodcomprising: providing an authorized user of a credit card issued by aservice provider; receiving a set of applications from a set ofreferrals of the authorized user for credit card services; processingthe set of applications from the set of referrals; issuing a credit cardto each of the referrals that qualify for the credit card, the referralsissued credit cards being a set of customers; and issuing valuableconsideration to the authorized user, the valuable consideration beingbased on the number of customers in the set of customers.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein issuing valuable consideration includesreducing an amount owed by the authorized user.
 3. The method accordingto claim 2, wherein reducing an amount owed by the authorized userincludes reducing larger amounts owed by the authorized user with eachcustomer of the set of customers.
 4. The method according to claim 2,wherein reducing an amount owed by the authorized user includes reducingthe amount owed by the authorized user each time a predetermined set ofcustomers is reached.
 5. The method according to claim 1, whereinissuing valuable consideration includes issuing goods to the authorizeduser.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein issuing valuableconsideration includes issuing services unrelated to banking services tothe authorized user.
 7. The method according to claim 1, whereinprocessing includes: determining whether a referred applicant qualifiesfor a credit card; and if the referred applicant qualifies for thecredit card, issuing the credit card and issuing the valuableconsideration to the authorized user, otherwise, if the referredapplicant does not qualify for the credit card, if a request is receivedfrom the referred customer for a credit card that is to be prepaid bythe referred customer, issuing the valuable consideration to theauthorized user, otherwise, not issuing the valuable consideration forthe referred applicant that does not qualify for the credit card.
 8. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein issuing valuable consideration isbased on a plurality number of customers in the set of customers.